1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing apparatus that includes a blade that wipes an ejection face of a print head on which an ejection opening is formed, and a blade cleaner that cleans the blade.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink jet printing apparatus, a foreign substance, such as an ink droplet and dust (including a paper powder caused by a printing medium like a sheet of paper), may be attached to an ejection face of an ink jet print head on which an ejection opening is formed. In order to clean the ejection face of the print head, a flexible blade is employed to wipe the ejection face. Since the foreign substances attached to the ejection face are removed by using the blade, defective ink ejection through the ejection opening can be prevented.
The blade is a flexible plate member, and a distal end portion of the blade includes a top face located at the tip and side faces located on the respective sides of the blade in the direction of thickness. In a wiping operation, the blade is moved while the distal end is bent in contact with the ejection face. Accordingly, the foreign substance on the ejection face is collected by the distal end of the blade, and the ejection face is cleaned. However, there is a possibility that the foreign substance thus collected by the distal end of the blade may be attached again to the ejection face in the next wiping operation. Therefore, a blade cleaner for cleaning the blade is used to prevent re-attachment of the foreign substance.
An arrangement wherein the blade is bent and moved in contact with an inclined face of an ink absorber, serving as the blade cleaner, to remove the foreign substance from the distal end of the blade is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H07-285226 (1995) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-180013.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H07-285226 (1995) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-180013, since the blade is moved with the distal end being bent in contact with the ink absorber, it is easy to remove the foreign substance from the side faces of the distal end of the blade. However, the foreign substance attached to the top face of the distal end is not easily removed.